Bored on a Sunday, so I watched the 90-minute replay. Here are my thoughts, and breakdown for things that may, may not, have been missed. I hope you keep an open mind as I am literally just watching the clips and noting what is happening. I wanted to bring something a bit different to the table, so I hope this doesn’t come off as negative or positive - just...in between...and maybe let some light in on what was a dark Saturday.

Tactics:

Johnasen as a False-9? Well, this allowed him and TC to interchange, and then allow us to put more bodies in the midfield defensively. Johansen's tenacity was pressuring them into bad decision making all around. In addition, Johansen's run into the box, in which he missed the ball, let the ball back post for Kebano to score.

First half goals:

We got scored on by diving into tackles, trying to press way too high. It started with Sess who didn't track back, and instead chose to pressure extremely high + narrow, whiff on a tackle, then Johansen missed, then Norwood. This series of events resulted in Ojo to follow Watkins dribble past Cairney, McDonald, before laying it off to Canos. Fredericks gave no room for Canos to go outside, but acres of space inside, then poor technique when Canos did tuck inside resulted in him easily get into a threatening position - not to mention Ojo was exhausted and let Canos glide by him.

What could have been:

Even after we got scored on, we continued to put pressure on them, and played quite well. Ojo should have scored or put more on the header in the box before half-time, would have completely changed. Credit to Ojo though because a couple minutes before that he used Cairney as a decoy and got a shot off, right at the keeper, but well struck.

Poor decision making:

Second half, Odoi injures himself right away. Doesn't stay down long enough for trainer to be permitted on. Chose to hobble and walk it off, but it was clear immediately he should've stayed down and asked for trainer. Immediately, Brentford sought to Watkins, who easily beat Odoi and the shot was struck wide, thankfully. It was in this moment that again, Odoi should have gone down, and asked for a trainer. He didn't. He even bends over to go for another feel, and continues to walk it off. Button kicks the ball long (because Odoi wasn't an option) and Odoi is STILL hobbling and limping about.

The ball comes back down our left side, and Sess is beat, causing Odoi to make a decision, and obstructs Clark, professional foul, even though we had cover if Odoi was beat - but unfortunately he's already on a yellow card. Extremely lucky. As we know, ref, TC and Odoi have a talk. After the talk, Odoi's no longer hobbling, and running back just fine.

We defend the first cross from the free kick, it gets sent back in, they strike the post, it finds their striker perfectly, we have Kalas on the right post, on the line, ball is struck to the middle, and Odoi runs onto it...doesn't extend his foot or slide...the ball rolls past him and it's 2-1 Brentford.

The red card was a result of a miscommunication between Cairney and Fredericks. Cairney's pass was intercepted right as we were building numbers. How often does our attack ever stall with TC? Never. We had committed many players forward, like we had done all match. The pressure was absolutely on them to defend. They intercepted it, quick counter to Yenarris, who took advantage of the error, sped down and found Watkins, who had been fouled before by Odoi, a nice move, forced Odoi wrongfooted, and obstructed. Again, Odoi had cover, but chose to obstruct Watkins again. Second yellow, sent off, we know the story.

Manager's decision:

Following the red card, we have decent reset from Fredericks to Norwood, who sent in a great long ball to Kebano. Unfortunately, Kebano was offsides, his 3rd of the match. I think this is where Slav got frustrated, and started telling Fonte to warm up. I think his emotions of frustrations from the series of events got the best of the manager, and instead of being calm, he made a poor decision and subbed out Kebano. Kebano shouldn't have been subbed, he was simply the collateral of the manager's overall frustration. Kebano, unknowingly, didn't help his cause when during the sequence of TC hitting the cross bar, he had a chance to strike the ball first time in the box, but chose for a delicate touch that was simply the wrong choice - and the ball was pushed away. Credit to Kebano though, he continued to pressure and the ball was not well cleared, and Johansen picked it up - but opted to cross the ball in low, and the finally cleared. After Button's poor pass out of bounds...Kebano was subbed for Fonte.

When Fonte came on, I believe Slav should have prepped AK to come in for Johansen. The false-9 tactic needed to be pulled out, but Slav kept with it. While Johansen's pressure continued, the overall mentality of a 3 forward system should have prevailed - and would have been more positively received. Instead, Johansen gets pulled in the 76th min, and De la Torre comes in, not AK...

The perception of Fonte:

For this portion, since many hate Fonte, I'm going to just grade him with a +/- 1pts. He's judged on what he doesn't do, which is scoring goals, and less about what he actually does. He's subbed in for Kebano in the LW spot, but also swaps with Ojo on RW, not striker or CF mind you as Johansen remains in the False-9.

- Fouls Brentford player (-1) | -1- First touch + layoff to Sess into space (+1) | 0- Let's Clark run past him on defense (-1) | -1- Gets into the box, along with Ojo, Sess bad touch, no cross (+1) | 0- Nice dribble onto the right top of box, but hesitant pass into space for Fredericks comes up short (-1) | -1- Button GK, beautiful touch and pass by TC, Fonte holds up 2 defending players, gets fouled (+1) | 0- Buton GK, long, Fonte lays off to Norwood (+1) | +1- After we conceded the 3rd; Graham comes on, sends ball into Fonte, back facing goal, and tries to lay off to Norwood instead of collecting and shooting (-1) | 0- After we defend a shot, Fonte is forced to drop back, collects loose ball, is fouled (+1) | +1-------------------------------------REALITY FINISHED: +1FAN'S PERCEPTION: Didn't take any shots, or score goals = -100 :) - I'm at this point as well tbh.

Player Grades (A-F):

GK Button - (C) - Made some point blank saves, and some easy ones, but his 2 or 3 bad short passes were magnified even though he sent the ball long 2-3 times as well. The 1st goal was still suspect because it went right under him.

DF Kalas - (A) - Not sure what he did wrong. Even though he is consistently a target for criticism. He showed some great height and anticipation defensively.

DF Odoi - (D) - Not just for the red card, but also defensively he was suspect, which is unfortunate because I felt very comfortable having Odoi as the LCB. He is a much better player than what he displayed in this match. Time to forgive and move on.

FB Sess - (B) - Didn't do much wrong in the first half, but a key lapse in judgement made the counter attack leading up to the goal, very easy for Brentford. He should have retreated instead of trying to pressure too high - and out of position. He had some bad touches when we really need to maintain attacks in their defensive third, but he also sent in some dangerous crosses. Hopefully we will see him in a more advanced role going forward.

FB Fredericks - (B) - Even though he let Canos cut in a bit too easily, overall, Fredericks played excellent. He cut in and out f the defense when needed, and he sent in a mix of crosses. His recovery speed defensively was crucial when we were down to 10-man as well. I'm usually hard on Fredericks, but he played a good match.

CDM/CB McDonald - (B) - No mistakes from K-Mac. Even when he got beat on the backpost (and Button saved) he was actually elbowed in the back of the head. For what he was forced to do in playing CB, he did remarkably well. For when he was playing CDM, he was a force in the center. Completely shut down Yennaris from doing anything.

CM Cairney - (A) - Hard to fault our captain for much at all. He directed play, he tried everything, and even struck the crossbar of what was a delicious “Cairney” strike. CM Norwood - (B) - Norwood interchanged with Cairney and Johansen multiple times. His versatility and awareness were troublesome for Brentford. When he dropped back, he launched dangerous passes into space. When he went forward, he kept the ball circulating in the defensive third. I can see why Slav has a hard time dropping him.

LW Kebano - (A) - Played on another level. Touches were so soft, and speed with the ball were exceptional. His finish was a great adjustment to his body, and cool slot in goal. He tried a bit too much in some areas, but I’ll never fault a player for standing out and at least trying something different.

RW Ojo - (B) - Continued his theme of cutting inside and shooting on sight. He also had a right footed shot that was quite well struck - surprised me. Defensively he was a bit all over the place, and caught ball watching on the first goal, however it was understood how gassed he was considering he ran from the opponent’s defensive third all the way into ours. Should have done better with the header chance, but we know that’s something he needs to work on in his game - and I’m sure he will.

CF Johansen - (B) - Playing a false-9 is no easy task, but Johansen did it very well. He pressured very hard, and he dropped back to collect as often as he could. We haven’t played with a false-9 player who is a known midfielder like Johansen, but he not only played the false-9 he also played a free roaming role, as indicated by the types of runs he made off the ball (including our goal).

(Sub) LW Fonte - (C) - Relative to the position he was put in, the LW role in our system has to drop back to defend just as much as it has to play the anchor role to support our wingbacks. On top of that he has to get in the box when said wingback takes over, especially on the opposite side. Fonte as a LW allowed him to be less stagnant at the top of the box, and was always on the move as he and Ojo switched back and forth to make their runs. The fact that he gave up his one and only chance to yet again try to set up a teammate, is why he gets a letter grade deduction. I’m frustrated with him because he’s not going to be considered worthy of anything until he starts scoring - and to do that he needs to shoot.

(Sub) CF De La Torre - (D) - Hate to give a low grade to him, but he wasn’t ready to come in. He was slipping all over the place and was looking very hesitant in the false-9 position. I think he needed more touches to get warmed up to the match, but the situation was a bigger obstacle to begin with.

(Sub) LW Graham - (B) - He was direct and taking on players. He was confident from the week’s performance in U23 and it showed. The only issue I had is that he was brought in so late. I hope this means that Slav will give Graham more chances.

Final Thoughts:

I know it's easy to question the entire scope of the decision making, but the chain of events of that red card completely skewed the overall perception here. It's not that I agree with the decision making (Fonte for Kebano, De La Torre for Johansen instead of AK), it's just that we were shortchanged by our own player's decision making - and everyone is charging on the manager. While that is of course valid, I just think there are other areas, as I outlined, in which it didn't come down to purely the manager.

I hope this approach is welcomed. While I anticipate it is unpopular, I believe that a different perspective aides in getting through tough times like these. It helps me, maybe it will help others. I wanted to make a video but spent more time writing this up instead, and frankly, I ran out of time :) . COYW!

Good post Matt and worth reading ,Cheers!One point about their first goal when kebano makes a terrible decision and looses the ball just outside their box when we were really threatening,for them to break away and score. we had many players comitting forward and that cost us dearly. A double wammy if you like; the loss of agraet opportunity for us and a goal on the counter for them. All at a time when they were hardly in the game ......

Johansen at ST is a huge negative. We don't need 4 midfielders to keep the ball, and SJ playing Johansen just proves to me that he’s lost it. Going to extreme lengths to keep his current, and seemingly only, style of play.

How much longer can we blame poor finishing? It’s getting mundane and boring.

Nice work Matt, thanks for taking the time to do it. I guess what we're looking for is something positive from this, i personally am trying, and the fact that we were the better side initially helps slightly.

From what you're saying you don't sound too downbeat, is this the case?

Like you i'm trying not to bash Fonte, but finding it increasingly difficult to do so.

Good write up Matt, though as said earlier the marks seem over generous. The award of 3 A's and 7 B's almost makes me wonder how we lost, just imagine if our players had an off day, we would have been hammered (said sarcastically).

Good analysis but as a few have said a little generous. Cairney offered nothing defensively and looked like he was running in Treacle in the build up to the first goal. Little leadership shown, but he of course shows his class for the crossbar shot. Very poor decision making by Odoi and Slav. Most of your observations are however spot on. Assume you are American from the way you write, so well done mate.

Are you a GCSE teacher? Those scores seem a tad generous for a 3 1 defeat to Brentford.

We clearly dominated the first half in an away match against a good team who were highly motivated to beat the local big boys. The fact that we lost the second half 2-0 is disappointing of course but it was likely most attributable to the fact we had a man less than the opposition that half. Had the referee given us the same number of cards as Brentford, rather than 5 times as many for roughly the same number of fouls (no exaggeration - check the stats) I'm convinced we'd have won the game.

Always enjoy the intelligence in your contributions, Matt10. Even if I can see other ways of explaining players thoughts and decision making you always add to the equations rather than subtract. I actually thought the early goal in the second half is a problem we have had before this season as if players leave something behind in the dressing room after half time. I also thought Odoi lost his marbles a little during the minutes between the injury, the warning, and the yellow/red, which is sad because he is a whole hearted player.

I actually feel your marking is quite fair, although I'd like to have seen Cairney, as captain. influence the Odoi situation much more obviously since he was given more than one chance to do so. But it was a bad day at the office all round by the end of the second half.

Are you a GCSE teacher? Those scores seem a tad generous for a 3 1 defeat to Brentford.

We clearly dominated the first half in an away match against a good team who were highly motivated to beat the local big boys. The fact that we lost the second half 2-0 is disappointing of course but it was likely most attributable to the fact we had a man less than the opposition that half. Had the referee given us the same number of cards as Brentford, rather than 5 times as many for roughly the same number of fouls (no exaggeration - check the stats) I'm convinced we'd have won the game.

Are you K in disguise..lol. Stats don't tell the whole story. (There's a shock). Brentford's fouls were, according to FA guidlines, mostly not deserving of cards whilst our cards were deserved for those particular fouls.Brentford and most other teams foul smarter than us. We do it mostly out of desperation.

Good analysis but as a few have said a little generous. Cairney offered nothing defensively and looked like he was running in Treacle in the build up to the first goal. Little leadership shown, but he of course shows his class for the crossbar shot. Very poor decision making by Odoi and Slav. Most of your observations are however spot on. Assume you are American from the way you write, so well done mate.

Are you a GCSE teacher? Those scores seem a tad generous for a 3 1 defeat to Brentford.

We clearly dominated the first half in an away match against a good team who were highly motivated to beat the local big boys. The fact that we lost the second half 2-0 is disappointing of course but it was likely most attributable to the fact we had a man less than the opposition that half. Had the referee given us the same number of cards as Brentford, rather than 5 times as many for roughly the same number of fouls (no exaggeration - check the stats) I'm convinced we'd have won the game.

You can't lose 3 1 and give players good scores. Our defence is awful and not good enough to play from the back and our attack is impotent.

Fulham pushed the self destruct button not the referee and we got what we deserved.

Decent analysis, but your far too kind with your marks.It actually adds up to a nervous breakdown. The fact is, whichever way you look at it, we lost because we have the uncanny ability to self destruct, due to no leadership on the pitch, poor game management ( almost naive ), a spineless backbone, timid defence, and no striker, not forgetting round pegs in square holes, and an unbalanced lineup that loses its shape far too often. That’s why we lost, playing one man shy for some of the second half was only part of the problem.

A good analysis- I think it shows how we were doing well I the game in the first half, and then events seemed to conspire against us.

The crux of the matter was conceding the second goal, which was mixed I with Odoi's injury, which seemed to lead to his red card.

I think we would likely put this game down to experience if we weren't on a fairly poor run, in a season with so much expectation at the start after last season, and players' confidence seems fragile.We aren't quite cutting it at the moment,despite lots of admirable play, but we keep self-destructing.

Johansen at ST is a huge negative. We don't need 4 midfielders to keep the ball, and SJ playing Johansen just proves to me that he’s lost it. Going to extreme lengths to keep his current, and seemingly only, style of play.

How much longer can we blame poor finishing? It’s getting mundane and boring.

Its an interesting and positive spin, I agree with the sentiment of FactsNot Fiction that you're being too generous and overall the issues are the same every week so its becoming very frustrating:1. Strange line up choice against a team who had struggled against Matt Smith the prior week, but Slav got away with it for the first 30 minutes. However, even then Brentford looked very fluid and we were yet again not clinical, maybe not having a recognized striker was part of that.2. Brentford get gifted a goal by waltzing through our midfield and then finally by Button diving over the ball (how you can give TC an A and Norwood a B on this goal alone) and we do not strike back, we go into the HT at 1-1.3. Yet again another team comes out fired up while we come out cold. My gut feeling is the dressing room at half time was not a fun place to be - arguments about line up and Button I am sure coming out. If you are a defender how can you feel confident with Button behind you and how frustrating is his distribution for every other player?4. Slav yet again tactically makes no change as we go 1-2, 10 men and then 1-3. He stalls, is uncertain, does not make the right call when Odoi gets his last warning. Makes bad subs - wrong people at wrong time.

If this was a one off - "bad day at the office" I would be more positive like you but this is happening too often. I was at Bolton game and again at Millwall and both games gave clear indications that we are coached to play in a way that we do not currently have the players or the players fit enough to be successful at and Slav's stubborn resistance to either using his full squad or make key changes in tactics means we are a busted flush. Every other team knows how to capitalize on our mistakes and they know we never change so keep at it. Those two were the worst opposition we will play all year and we struggled against them. This team has enough quality players to be further up the table than we are but he either refuses to play them, like Saturday, or make key changes, like drop Button, sub Odoi and from how bad we are at beginning of second half I am starting to think he is losing the squad after his motivational efforts seem to have the opposite effect.

Sorry but having watched it again yesterday too - Sundays are boring here as well - I think you are way too optimistic.

Good post Matt and worth reading ,Cheers!One point about their first goal when kebano makes a terrible decision and looses the ball just outside their box when we were really threatening,for them to break away and score. we had many players comitting forward and that cost us dearly. A double wammy if you like; the loss of agraet opportunity for us and a goal on the counter for them. All at a time when they were hardly in the game ......

Yes, very true. I didn't want to fault Kebano for trying to do too much, because it was a mazing run, but it was part of the issue that was similar to how the red card happened. We pushed forward and committed players quite advanced. I honestly don't think anyone in their mind would think TC pass the ball and get intercepted, but it did. Double whammy is a great way of putting it.

Johansen at ST is a huge negative. We don't need 4 midfielders to keep the ball, and SJ playing Johansen just proves to me that he’s lost it. Going to extreme lengths to keep his current, and seemingly only, style of play.

How much longer can we blame poor finishing? It’s getting mundane and boring.

I think it was more so a good problem to have for a lineup, but not good when needing a reaction to the match itself. Our CM midfield depth has grown in quality right now. I honestly think we were shortchanged from seeing it truly come into form due to the match scenario. We have never dominated the center of the pitch defensively like we did in the first half against Brentford.

I do agree about our finishing. We need to pull the trigger much more often and from various positions. Ojo's approach has been very positive, and I hope he continues to do what he's doing.

Nice work Matt, thanks for taking the time to do it. I guess what we're looking for is something positive from this, i personally am trying, and the fact that we were the better side initially helps slightly.

From what you're saying you don't sound too downbeat, is this the case?

Like you i'm trying not to bash Fonte, but finding it increasingly difficult to do so.

I was utterly defeated on Saturday. I just didn't want to do anything. If we had played terrible the get go, with no sense of attack and being dominated in possession, I would have accepted this defeat. Problem is we played a solid first half, and due to the bad decision making we were cheated out of a proper showing. I think it did shed light on Slav's stubborness and lack of keeping things simple for the sake of the situation.

Regarding Fonte, it's tough because you want to support a player that wants to be a team player, but his stock is falling because he has only 1 goal to his name. I can't defend him if he doesn't make any effort to score goals. I can wish him luck because his days have been numbered for a while. In isolation he does the things a teammate would want him to do, except actually taking a risk and shooting, let alone scoring goals.

Are you a GCSE teacher? Those scores seem a tad generous for a 3 1 defeat to Brentford.

Haha, they are a bit generous I know. In a collective sense, I can see they would receive poor marks, but individually, it's hard to see many issues. I think overall this supports what we already know, it was poor decision making by a player and coach. Chain reaction of events and no matter what every player was going to be affected.

Good write up Matt, though as said earlier the marks seem over generous. The award of 3 A's and 7 B's almost makes me wonder how we lost, just imagine if our players had an off day, we would have been hammered (said sarcastically).

Haha, I know, Dave, I know. That's the thing, reviewing the match, it's hard to find too many faults by our individual players. That is what makes it even more frustrating.

Good analysis but as a few have said a little generous. Cairney offered nothing defensively and looked like he was running in Treacle in the build up to the first goal. Little leadership shown, but he of course shows his class for the crossbar shot. Very poor decision making by Odoi and Slav. Most of your observations are however spot on. Assume you are American from the way you write, so well done mate.

Thanks, Stu. Yeah, sorry my writing is all over the place sometime. Video isn't any better, but I was definitely thinking out loud more on this one :)

Good point about TC defensively. Honestly, I didn't pay attention to him on that side of the ball, so I may take another look later on. I do remember his rash challenge that got him booked though. Frustration set in for him right after that red card.

Johansen at ST is a huge negative. We don't need 4 midfielders to keep the ball, and SJ playing Johansen just proves to me that he’s lost it. Going to extreme lengths to keep his current, and seemingly only, style of play.

How much longer can we blame poor finishing? It’s getting mundane and boring.

Its an interesting and positive spin, I agree with the sentiment of FactsNot Fiction that you're being too generous and overall the issues are the same every week so its becoming very frustrating:1. Strange line up choice against a team who had struggled against Matt Smith the prior week, but Slav got away with it for the first 30 minutes. However, even then Brentford looked very fluid and we were yet again not clinical, maybe not having a recognized striker was part of that.2. Brentford get gifted a goal by waltzing through our midfield and then finally by Button diving over the ball (how you can give TC an A and Norwood a B on this goal alone) and we do not strike back, we go into the HT at 1-1.3. Yet again another team comes out fired up while we come out cold. My gut feeling is the dressing room at half time was not a fun place to be - arguments about line up and Button I am sure coming out. If you are a defender how can you feel confident with Button behind you and how frustrating is his distribution for every other player?4. Slav yet again tactically makes no change as we go 1-2, 10 men and then 1-3. He stalls, is uncertain, does not make the right call when Odoi gets his last warning. Makes bad subs - wrong people at wrong time.

If this was a one off - "bad day at the office" I would be more positive like you but this is happening too often. I was at Bolton game and again at Millwall and both games gave clear indications that we are coached to play in a way that we do not currently have the players or the players fit enough to be successful at and Slav's stubborn resistance to either using his full squad or make key changes in tactics means we are a busted flush. Every other team knows how to capitalize on our mistakes and they know we never change so keep at it. Those two were the worst opposition we will play all year and we struggled against them. This team has enough quality players to be further up the table than we are but he either refuses to play them, like Saturday, or make key changes, like drop Button, sub Odoi and from how bad we are at beginning of second half I am starting to think he is losing the squad after his motivational efforts seem to have the opposite effect.

Sorry but having watched it again yesterday too - Sundays are boring here as well - I think you are way too optimistic.

I'm just naturally optimistic, and yes, sometimes to a fault. I believe in being positive because it is too easy to be negative. It drives my wife mad :)

With that said I do agree with you that the status quo of our team is in trouble, and our performance is always a tale of two halves. I don't claim to know about the inner workings of the locker room because I'm not there, so again, I don't have control over that.

I think the collective frustration is the fact that Slav's system is not OUR system. What we believe is we need a true striker. The problem is Slav doesn't approach his system that way. If it wasn't more obvious, look at our goal scoring from the CF/Striker position. Look at the matches and the role they play in Slav's system. It's not a QPR, Bolton, Wolves, literally any team in the league. What we have vs what we want is completely separate. Isolating individual strikers and forwards across the league does nothing beneficial because Slav doesn't adjust his system to the players, he adjusts his players to the system.

I'm not part of the crowd that wants him out, but I'm also not naive enough to think he's not doing himself any favors by these inconsistent and misfirings on simple concepts. Overall, he's made things too complicated this season, and I think that is fairly obvious to see. The only thing I'm left to really "grade" is the fundamentals of the players he chooses. Someone in one of the threads made a great point how we play players out of position, and we shouldn't be surprised that some of the key mistakes have been a direct result of that. I tend to agree, but again, I won't fault the player unless it's a very basic fundamental or performance.

Only watched the highlights, can't bring myself to watch the full 90. Anyway, I have not seen any comment on here about Brentford's 1st goal. GJ mentioned it but there was a Brentford player standing right in front of Button who while did not touch the ball was clearly obstructing his vision and from the video is clearly offside. Am I going to have another rant about referees or was there another player who was playing him on.

As for Odoi, he was plain stupid and again from the highlights was not showing any injury, but why did he do the tackle he did. If he was injured he should have never been in the fullback position and should have got some cover until he had run it off.